152 NATURE STUDY. 



The law of apperception is an expression for the 

 fact that the mind receives and retains those ideas 

 which are or can be related to what is already in the 

 mind, and, further, that it changes what it thus retains, 

 connects it with, and makes it like, what the mind had 

 before. 



What any one sees depends on what he has already 

 seen, what is already in his mind. Looking at the 

 leaves on a tree, the artist may see the shades of color 

 and play of light and shade, and little more ; the bot- 

 anist may see the resemblance to leaves of related plants, 

 or perhaps their special adaptation to their work or 

 function ; the child may see only the movements of the 

 leaves in the wind, or their bright colors, or the wreath 

 he once made from them. All may look at the same 

 leaves, and yet each sees something different. Each 

 sees with and through that which he has already seen. 



In this respect the mind is much like the body. No 

 matter how much or what kind of food is placed before 

 or taken into the body, the body only retains that food 

 which it can assimilate ; that is, relate to and make like 

 what is already a part of the body. Apperception is 

 thus the mental equivalent of physiological assimilation. 



In the ultimate analysis the laws that we have enu- 

 merated depend, very largely at least, on apperception. 

 We have seen that sense-perception depends on apper- 

 ception. Interest is based on apperception. The child 

 is interested in that which appeals to him ; that is, in 

 that which can be related to something already in him- 

 self. This is the reason why children are so much 



